


Lake

by yomo_yomotan



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Art School, Dancer Keith (Voltron), M/M, Painter Lance (Voltron), a pinch of angst here but it doesn't matter cuz lance is superior, damn how many tags I can use this is funny, galtean (kinda), pidge is small whore that I love so much, this is a translation but it's my work afterall so nothing sus here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:15:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27423337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yomo_yomotan/pseuds/yomo_yomotan
Summary: Okay guys so this is the story I was talking about on my twitter. I'm new on ao3 so please have mercy. If you don't know, the original story was created by me ofc but published on wattpad, BUT I've found a team and we're translating it together so everyone can read it in english! yay!
Relationships: Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Allura/Lotor (Voltron), Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Kudos: 13





	1. Communistic Lake

**Author's Note:**

> Okay guys so this is the story I was talking about on my twitter. I'm new on ao3 so please have mercy. If you don't know, the original story was created by me ofc but published on wattpad, BUT I've found a team and we're translating it together so everyone can read it in english! yay!

A black shadow glided on a building's wall, it gracefully jumped on a windowsill and even more gracefully fell onto the floor. Thank God or other higher being that onto the floor and not onto the pavement seven meters below, but who knows, maybe falling and death on the spot would be better than a bump, almost broken neck and vision of slow dying in the owner's office for wandering in the night.

"Boys, look who came to us!"

Actually, the owner didn't seem so bad now.

As fast as he could, he jumped on his feet and unconsciously moved his head so the frindge wasn't in the way. A grin was his unwanted response.

"It's our little Galra!" he smiled with a smile as derisive and disgusting as it could. Ah, how much he'd pay for discrediting his bully in front of his whole gang by just mentioning he was a Galra too...

Better not. It's not worth it to end life as a forage for pigs.

"Sendak", he hissed through his teeth. His jaw was still aching from the confrontation two weeks ago so he didn't wanted to fight this time. No, it's too risky. Even more than sneaking out of the dormitory after the curfew through a window on the second floor. He had to run away, but where? If it went as planned he would go down a little on the roof and a little on the gutter, of course taking all precautions like not looking down or pretending it's just a soft grass down there and falling will cause only a few bruises. But to take these precautions, he needed silence and calm, not a dumbass senior scrambling after him.

"Fucking brat", he snapped and took a step forward. The victim stepped back, just now he was leaning his ass on the low windowsill and any careless movement could end as a trip to Happy Hunting Ground...

Not waiting for a reaction, he tensed his muscles, hold on window frame and lunged forward, on the roof of the lower building wing. He wasn't looking if they rushed after him or let it go, he had different things on his head right now after all - at least that roof tiles were still slippery after yesterday's rain and he just slipped down a little bit. It happened so fast and unexpectedly he reacted scarcely in the air, catching the gutter with his whole strength. Rusted fastening withstanded and he could seamlessly move to the drainpipe, go down after it and end his evacuation. He knew it won't be so easy as it seems but he made it, with his hands shaky and stingy when he was already running into the forest. Maybe it wasn't the safest place at 3 am but he knew the way by heart. He was jumping over thorny bushes, collapsing in down and bedding, tripping over rocks and startling forest animals. Finally he reached his destination and fell on a big harsh rock, now wet from the moisture in the air but it didn't bother him. He needed rest - his limbs were trembling like he’d been on ecstasy pills, on his hands and under the nails still was rust that burned his cuts, even the smallest ones and driving him mad, he was drowning in his own sweat. He stood up unwilingly, kneeled down next to the lake surface and washed his hands with cold water. He was vaccinated, but he didn't wanted to risk.

"What are you doing?", he heard a quiet shout from faraway, probably from the other side. "Get the fuck outta there, you're breaking the composition!"

"Composition-shitposition!", he yelled back, not minding who is he talking to and who the hell would be here in forest in the middle of the night. "Get the fuck outta here yourself, this is my lake!"

"Oh, really? I don't see a sign with 'private area' here!" The source of the voice decided to appear and come closer. It was a boy around his age holding something in his hands, but it was hard to see from that distance.

"Who are you?", he asked definitely too late.

"Lance McClain", the intruder introduced himself and smiled widely with his white shiny teeth, being a big contrast to his dark complexion. "Were you so dazed by my charm you ask so late?"

He looked at him sideways and seized the opportunity to check him out. Latino, short hair, sharp jaw, height maybe three times the size of his IQ. Green hoodie, jeans, old trainers. Sketchbook in one hand, pen (or maybe automatic pencil?) in the second.

"You have an... annoying face", he said without thinking but before interlocutor could react he stood up, flicked his hands and offered a hand "Keith Kogane."

"So you're saying it's your lake?" Contrary to expectation, he shaked Keith's hand with his. "I have to sadden you, Mr. Emofringe, but I'm coming here every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday."

"And I'm coming here every Monday, Wednesday and Sunday", he replied with the same snappy tone.

"So welcome, comrade. I'm afraid the only solution is communism."

"Listen, Mr. Bigass Forehead, I used to come here seven days a week and haven't seen you at all so this lake, this forest, and most of all this fucking rock is much more mine than yours."

"Hold up Mullet, I'm doing the homework here, and you were just washing your hands." In this moment he saw a suspicious liquid on said Mullet's hands and as soon as he could he wiped his hand on his trousers. To be honest, blood on white jeans looked much worse (at least for a future person responsible for washing them) but it didn't give such a murderous vibe.

"Homework?" In a sketchbook? Ah, so he attended schoold with an art profile. There was only one like this within ten kilometers and he attended it as well. "What year?"

"First. You're from the high school for art fuckheads too? What profile?"

He hesitated.

"Dance", he said finally. Lance nodded, pretending he knew what was it about. Of course he doesn't know anything about sport, Keith thought. "And you? Traditional or-"

"Traditional, traditional, honey", he silenced him with a gesture. "Don't even try to mention digital, that... that... murder on naturalness, beauty and a reason the art is art. Layers? Alpha background? Pixel-art?", he winced, "It's all nonsense! The real art is born in the inside and can be bringed to life only on the real, alive paper, in other cases it would become dead. And don't even start babbling that it's easier, it's faster, no! There's no 'easier' or 'faster' in art, you swim in art, you fly in art, you give your body, soul and heart to the art, you let the art create itself!"

He was listening to all this with more and more boredome. In one moment he even sit down on HIS rock and Lance suddendly stopped his lecture and rushed to his sketchbook.

"Are you drawing me???" He wanted to run away, he didn't agree to be an object for placing in somebody's homework.

"Don't move... wait, face a little to right..." He wasn't almost looking at a paper but on him as he worried he would run away. Well, he was right. "C'mon, look at the moon."

He wanted to say the whole sky was buried in dark clouds but seeing the enthusiasm Lance was scrubbing the paper with, he managed to keep his mouth shut. He looked up in the place where maybe the moon will appear after a while.

So the only guy who didn't know about his heritage was met by him at 3 am in the middle of the forest when he was doing homework. Can psychopaths even meet a normal person? Or only other psychopaths?


	2. Ultramarine Psychopath

Two weeks have passed, two weeks of intense avoiding Sendak and his bunch. He wasn't going into a fight with them, actually biting his tongue if it occurred to him to ask why they’re not in their rooms during the curfew. And why they’re in the freshman’s wing. However, was it that important? In a few months they’re finishing school anyway and teachers cared more about freshmans like him. Then again, after visiting the principal’s office and three-day suspension, he noticed that his bullies were more focused on their exams than harassing him with racist comments. Relieved, he let go of being too cautious and allowed himself to get closer to the psychopath he met by the lake. His lake. 

The psychopath, dubbed Loverboy by his classmates, was Cuban and spoke Spanish fluently. Since the beginning Keith knew Lance really was a freak, but when he got to know him better he found out that he was like a fanatical freak. He could talk for hours about gouache, watercolor, temper and many other non-saying-anything-to-outsider things. In his room were at least five different sized easels, a lot of paints, markers, coloured pencils and a lot of other things looking like they don’t have anything to do with painting, furthermore as days were passing in his wardrobe were less and less not paint stained clothes. Although sometimes he tooked pity over tiny marks and transformed it into a masterpiece, but sometimes Keith had a feeling some of them were just inappropriate, because who on earth would wear jeans with Van Gogh’s work on his ass? So to not get tempted to create those (stains on back of Lance’s pants appeared on their own, he couldn’t get that it might be because of wiping his hands on them after finishing a painting) he was buying more and more canvas with different size and different texture. Sometimes this technique didn’t work and he had let his creativity go and draw in his school notes but teachers just turned a blind eye on that - you can’t argue with inspiration, right? And everything was better than painting pentagrams on walls with your own blood. 

“You’d paint on your own ass if you could”, Keith said as a joke one time but he was terrified how seriously Lance looked while listening to this. Luckily the homework that made them get to know each other was drawn on paper. Of course he couldn’t wait to show his piece first, not to the teacher, but to the model who wrinkled his nose at first glance.

“Dude, I don’t have that much upturned nose. And my eyes are gray, not blue”.

“Oh come on, I drew it from memory. I wouldn’t make those mistakes if you could just let me take a damn picture and not get my phone tossed into the lake”.

“Didn’t throw it, just dropped it”.

“You literally skipped my phone like a rock”.

“You’re imagining this”.

Contrary to popular belief someone with an extreme approach to art could be friends with someone with a completely different one - Katie Holt, on the Internet and between friends using the nickname Pidge Gunderson. She used to have long hair and not wear glasses but it was hard to imagine. The only image of Holt that existed in most of her friends’ heads was close to only one word - nerd. ‘Cause Pidge was a nerd. Huge, fanatic, nerdy nerd, watching tumblr and twitch at 2 am, walking everywhere with a laptop, drawing pad and pen, getting only best marks and never, but never ever wearing dresses, skirts or other girlish crap. She swore the only time when she wore a dress was at her first Holy Communion and even then she had pants under but that was something no one believed in. However, everyone was sure that Lance and Pidge had to be connected by someone with an extremally strong personality and that was actually true. Hunk (really no one knew what he has done to get that nickname), friendly, large in all three dimensions, much stronger than he looked student with a bear posture from sculpture and architecture profile. Keith couldn’t figure out what his full name was so he called him like everyone else did - by a nickname. 

At first he wasn’t so sure about sudden meeting three people at once but it was Hunk who helped him feel okay between them in a “pack of friends who don't know that there’s a Galra among them”. Everyone had their little and big secrets but most of their teenage news they shared among the group. Sometimes it ended up well, for example when Hunk admitted that he wanted to attend ballet lessons (insert Keith's confused face here) but sometimes a bit worse, like the poor Lance’s confession about his unrequited love to Allura, third year theatre-something student. They had to admit that mistreating their friend about his feelings, even as a joke, was very, very mature, but seeing every single reaction of their victim was hilarious as always. The only thing that was even funnier was the fact that our bitter tomboy Pidge and probably the biggest enemy of forcing schoolgirls to wear skirts for classes when it was obtained wearing formal clothes, confirmedly listened to the Hello Kitty opening. 

Except his crush Lance had one more not that secretly secret - he was Altean. In other words, he came from a noble family dating back to the Middle Ages. It was a big surprise (most of the Altean’s last names were more like “Denawkich” or “Fakafrutten”), but it was accepted without a long talk about this. Pidge and Hunk were just humans, and Keith… Keith was human too. Yeah. He didn’t have anything common with Galra. He even talked about this with Shiro, the only person who knew about his deriving and wasn't afraid of keeping up their friendship. Although for him, someone with impeccable culture, grades, face, way of being and everything else maintaining popularity was not difficult at all - all he had to do was smile at some random girl in the hallway and immediately five more ran up to him, begging for his number.

“I don’t know what to do… “, Keith blurted out at the end of the confession, resting his elbows on the table and his chin on his hands.

They were sitting in the part of the library that even a librarian was checking only to see if there’s any corpse of some wretch from last week who was stuck in there and died of hunger. It was their secret place where they could talk about anything without fear that someone can eavesdrop them. For example janitor Haggar sitting in her office peeking everybody through less and less working school cameras. 

“No one is forcing you to confess, but I guess Lance is not that type of guy that won’t respect people because of their ancestors.” Shiro scratched the scar on his nose unconsciously which he always did when he didn’t wanted to look wiser than he actually was. Thing where he got this scar was disputed, some people were saying he had it since forever, others were saying he let it embellish him (saying that it was taking his attractiveness away from him would be greatly exaggeration) by accident two years ago where he also got disorder in his right arm. You could say, because of this disorder he got so popular, after that teachers suggested him to change profile from dancing one to another that won’t make too much pressure for his health. As much as he loved the idea of using his body as an instrument, he moved to an actor profile, and it was bull’s-eye. Admittedly, he had some backlogs, but he dealt with them without any problems and he became the star of every performance of his class in a flash. Even if he had a lot of diplomas from past years, he prefered to keep them closed in the box not even at his dormitory but at his house. If his father mixes them up with newspapers and uses them as fire lighter to furnace, it wouldn’t a big deal.

“But what if he is?“ Keith raised his eyes and looked at ‘Tristan and Isolde’, glaring at him from the shelf.

“Fortuna favet fortibus“. He loved Latin since forever, it wasn’t even because of his fascination with ancient Rome, he was just a masochist and loved to set the bar ridiculously high.

Keith gave him the stink eye.

“Fortune favors the bold”, Shiro explained, looking at him with amusement. 

“Do you always need to talk like a philosopher with this fucked up language?” As he blurted that out, he noticed Shiro’s dark eyebrows slightly furrowed.

“Yeah, yeah, I won’t swear anymore, dad.” It was enough to light up his face. 

He let himself for a small smile. Shiro was too naive for an asian genius. 

“You know Shiro?! THAT Takashi Shirogane, the most popular guy in school who isn’t me?!“

Keith blinked couple of times. He talked with his older friend a few hours ago and now he was doomed to Lance’s company. 

“Yeah?“, he shrugged, accepting the fact that getting in Lance’s room is much more easier than getting out. Mainly because of the paints, tool and other artistic crap all over the place. “We’ve known each other for years, chill.“

“I can’t chill knowing that my friend is friends with my enemy!“, Lance accusingly pointed the brush at him, “ he is in the same class as my darling.“ 

“And he’s gay.”, he said without thinking. The other boy looked at him like he didn’t believe him. “Seriously, Allura’s also not into him”. Keith passed a tissue to Lance’s reached out hand.

“Yeah, sure, give me hope, very funny.” He dried the brush and threw it on the floor, obviously wipping his hands on his pants. He stepped two foot backwards and looked critically at the painting. “Give me the ultramarine.” 

“Which one is it?“ Keith looked at the paint tubes in confusion. Most of them were at least a few times dropped, trampled or yeeted through the window. 

“The blue one.” He looked for a proper brush in his kit and when he coulnd’t find it he took one from under the bed sheet. Keith didn’t wanted to ask how it got here and how even this psychopath knew it was a good spot to look for it. 

“So?“ He spun around to look at all the blue paints. There were at least twenty of them. Of course, not counting those he didn't even know where they could be, maybe even in Lance’s lunch box. 

“Are you retarded?“ Lance rolled his eyes and with superiority and satisfaction took the paint tube from the pot with poor plant that wasn’t watered for three weeks. He squeezed the remnants of its contents onto a pallet and threw the tube into the trash can with disgust. He missed. “Add it to my shopping list”, with a movement of his head he pointed to the small pin board and piece of paper with weird and mysterious words that made some kind of dark magic spell when putted together. As instructed, he took a random writing pen and added ‘ultramarin’ to it. The last letter couldn't fit. Proud of his work he turned to Lance who just painted over the sky and in a few moments he finally finished. “So? What do you think?”

“Don’t ask me, they look the same to me”, he shrugged. 

“Identical?! Please, it’s like a piece from a completely different artist!” Lance raged, his finger poking the other boy’s chest. “The previous artist was an idiot! He had no idea that with this mood of the painting the better choice would be cirrus! Not cumulus! That was a crime on a global scale!”   
In this situation, whatever he said would have been taken as an insult for art, so he just stayed quiet. He listened to everything with fake interest what would-be Picasso was saying.

Looks like it really wasn’t meant for him to meet someone normal.


	3. Cute Midget-Assassin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yaaa sorry for such long break, chapter was actually translated right after second one but ya know computer problems and stuff  
> Don't kill us pls

“You seriously have eight PEs during a week?” Lance couldn’t believe.  
‘’Yeah, seriously’’, Keith said with amusement and took a sip of compote. It was disgusting like everything in the school canteen, but according to school rules he couldn’t leave the building until classes are finished. There was still few hours to endure without and buying something out, so he didn’t want to complain. Also, he had training today.  
‘’And you really have some kind of calming hypnosis classes after every PE?” asked dead serious Pidge.  
‘’No, it’s a normal training to calm and relax your body after effort’’, Keith explained. ‘’Y’know, when other classes are occupying big hall, we go to small gym, spread our mattresses, lay down on them and the teacher plays a disc with a guy who’s slowly talking what muscle you need to flex and which to relax. I know it sound weird but it really helps. Time is running fast then, though.’’  
‘’I’d feel weird with that”, said Hunk with honesty, while looking jealously at friends’ half-full plates. He definitely ate faster than others, and asking Mr. Coran, school chef, for some extra food, was, to put it mildly, dumb. Well, not until someone was so desperate to miss classes because of stomach disorder.  
“At first is really weird”, Keith nodded. “But when you get comfortable, it’s even nice.”  
When they finished eating they gave trays back and left to not block seats. Keith was a little annoyed because of leaving their table – no, Keith was annoyed because he must left his table and his chair – there were only few places in school where they could sit down. Once Keith tried to sit on a windowsill that was so wide like the architect predicted that in this place won’t be any benches in corridor himself, but for Keith’s unhappiness window was open then and teacher who was on call made him read out loud whole booklet about safety and falls from heights. Apart from the fact it was happening on the ground floor, Lance couldn’t resist occasion and was annoying Keith with this for the next few days.  
“You’re going on that trip?”, Hunk asked when they sat in quiet corner of corridor.  
“What trip?” Pidge doesn’t bothered manners and was looking through some social media on her phone.  
“This on the next week.” Hunk, after figuring out that everyone else was uninformed, from his pure heart, started to explain. “At first, there was supposed to go only one class, but it turned out there was too little willing people, so everyone could sign up. And now, few persons resigned but everything is already paid so anyone can sign up and then possibly pay organizers after trip.”  
“Possibly”, Keith lifted his brow up.  
“And where this trip would be?” Lance got interested.  
“Somewhere in mountains, by a lake.” Hunk shrugged, it meant he wasn’t sure and didn’t know about this too much.  
“A Chernobyl lake?” Lance couldn’t resist. Keith punched him lightly.  
“Chernobyl, not Chernobyl, I’m not going anywhere without you, guys”, Pidge snorted.  
“Aww, that was so cute!”, said Hunk. Pidge leered at him.  
“This is called ‘the lesser evil’.” Pidge snarled, looking down at them. This was a big thing for a girl, who was tall as others’ necks. “Although, if you’re going on for a some kind of trip, I can’t lose an occasion for impeding your precious time.”  
“Aaand the cute girl’s charm disappeared”, Lance sighed and then he yelled horribly, when this ‘cute girl’ almost ripped all of his hair off. In fact, it couldn’t end up different than visit at principal’s office. But before that there was a huge, wild pursuit through school corridor, not mentioning that one teacher almost broke her leg after hit by falling down the stairs.  
“You want to go?” Keith didn’t pay attention to screams in the background.  
“Yeah, I want to.” As calm as Keith, Hunk agreed. “You know, we’re going to see some pre-war village, and architecture exam is going to be the most difficult, so I prefer to learn something with less barbarian way than read textbooks.” Keith nodded with understanding. “By the way, what your exams look like? You do a twine, two flips, twerk for two minutes and done?”  
“I heard from senior year, that every time it looks different”, Keith ignored last sentence, “Once, they had to to record a music video, other time organize something like happening, and once they just went to gym and repeated figures, until coach entered the room. Then it turned out, that trainer was with them all the time and was grading everyone.”  
“You keep in touch with senior year?”  
“With Shiro. He’s still keeping in touch with colleagues from dance class, so he’s informed. We meet each other after classes and share information. Oh, and when he’s got time, he come around on training and start to lecture us, you know, ‘chest out’, ‘chin up’, ‘keep foots flat’ and something like this. Apparently, Shiro was the best student on his year, so that’s why couch is letting him do this.”

“Holy cow, he’s like older brother!” Hunk thought out loud with resentment. He got no one who could help him to make this stupid clay into something that was alright after first attempt, not fiftieth. It mostly ended up terribly because oven was living his own life and burned even smallest ornaments, which Hunk was making for couple of hours under magnifying glass. Unfortunately, all of his work had to be thrown away, and Hunk had to start work from the very beginning.  
“Yeah…”, Keith put his hands in pockets and looked away. “Like older brother.”


	4. Trip to Chernobyl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suffered way too much translating this

The sunset was beautiful like a wild dance of light and fire, flames playing with the lake surface and the sight of the sky in it. Mountains on the horizon were covered with forest and snow, small stream flowing down one of them, between the trees and falling into the lake with a little waterfall. Really pleasing view.

"This Chernobyl's looking good", Lance said getting off the bus with small backpack and unproportionally larger suitcase. 

"Couldn't bring more clothes, could you?", Keith snapped and corrected the sport bag's strap on his shoulder with slight contempt.

"Are you fucked up?", Lance didn't care about the fact that the teacher is nearby and can hear every word. "The clothes are here", he pointed at his backpack, "Here are pencils and other necessities."

Keith rolled his eyes.

"Of course, couldn't expect anything else from a guy with Pikachu on his own ass."

"That were the only trousers I found which weren't dirty", Lance’s hands involuntarily moved to his back but he managed to shift that movement to putting them in back pockets. "Also, I'm an aritst. I have much more shifted weirdo margin than you." The only answer he got was a raised eyebrow. Skipping the fact it was always irritating him he was actually impressed by Keith's skill, not only of his mimicry but also the whole body.

Teacher's call stopped theirs taunts. They made a group with the rest of their friends and non-friends from other classes so they can wait for the second bus. These few minutes were as long as forever, especially since the teachers gave them a lecture that they mustn't go away from the group, respect the curfew, let the other customers rest peacefully etc. Keith wasn't going to listen to it, not even the first half and so he sat on a rock a few meters away. Lance noticed that and quickly sat down next to him. 

"Why are they staring so much?", he asked Keith after he caught another person looking towards them.

"I... have rocky relationship with the rest, if you can call it that." He looked away pretending to look for the bus.

"Rocky relationship?", it reminded him of something, "You watched ATLA?"

"Three times."

They were arguing who in the series had the biggest character development for a while. After they saw the second bus, they quickly stood up and went to the hotel with the rest of the group.

"Am I the only one thinking there can’t be any hotel in this hole?" Pidge snarled, raising her short arm as high as she could to get some coverage. Surprisingly for everyone, it worked – one bar appeared on the screen after a while and as they were moving up the hill the second one decided to show up and filled her heart with hope.

"And what if it could?" Hunk went in first and he was the first one who saw it. It took the rest of the group a while longer to reach the place since most people there weren't really willing to come. But once they came up, they saw quite large valley forming the lake coast; the sand particles were shimmering in the sunlight with all the colors of rainbow near the shore, next to it was naturally flat area with lots of picnic bigots, on the left was something resembling old buildings and closer to them was… well, also some resembling old buildings but it has a much more appealing look to it like some sort of an agritourism farm with crowds willing to go in.

"This is our hotel?" Pidge didn’t even tried to pretend it pleases her. "Looks like one of those camping sites with cottages, you know, that cottages you can rent for 15 bucks. That ones where it stinks like a rat just died in there", she added in case someone didn’t understand. 

"Where’s my five-star penthouse? Where’s my restaurant? Where’s my pool? Where’s my private jacuzzi? Where’s my golden toilet and golden toilet paper?", Lance raged.

"So… you don’t like it?", Hunk wanted to be sure.

"It’s awesome!", Lance yelled and run down the hillside. The rest went in his footsteps a little more carefully, mostly because of the teacher shouting to stay calm.

After another few minutes of safety lecture they headed to a building with a gilded sign ‘reception’ but the teacher didn’t even think about letting them in.

"There’s almost fifty of you, it would be really crowdy in here. Also, you could break something easily", she said to everyone but Lance noticed she was looking at him. Really? Allura’s tutor was no one but someone who treats him like a person with behavioral problems? 

They’ve been waiting for few minutes. Some of them were exposing faces to the setting sun, now giving way less warmth than before but it was still nice. Because is there something better than laying in the sunlight knowing the real summer break starts in a while? 

"Okay, I’ve got a rooms scheme, there’s five four-person, one three-person and the rest is two-person", the teacher brutally ended their relaxation and took out a pen to write everything down.

Someone groaned in the back.

"Do they really don’t have any one-person rooms?"

"No, it’s an integration trip", the teacher clapped to make concerned with her words group quiet. "Come on, think quickly!"

"We’re taking the four-person one!", Lance yelled immediately.

"I’m a girl. I mustn’t be with you", Pidge noticed.

"Three-person one then!"

"Too late!" Lance was painfully looking as the teacher gave keys to a group of girls with Allura among them.

Hunk reacted first.

"Okay guys, do we take some other dude or we’re splitting up?", he asked, personally more attracted to the first option but as soon as Keith arranged quick rock-paper-scissors round he knew he’ll have to go in Pidge's footsteps and spend next two nights on a foreign land. He was right, of course, but he felt somehow better when he noticed Shiro standing beside the group in hesitance. It was better to have a room with someone he knew even indirectly than a complete stranger. Because who knows what that stranger could do? They might even eat his sweets supplies and it was something he wouldn't allow to happen. 

Eventually with a happy twist of fate all of them (with Shiro and Acxa though) got rooms next to each other. Even better, they got a whole cottage right beside the lake. Contrary to the expectation the interior was actually close to photos from the official guesthouse's website, perfectly clean and modern. Pidge dreamily started to use the almost ideally working internet, Hunk was impressed with how big the kitchen is and how easily teachers believed they're not gonna burn down the house, Lance immediately lay down on the most comfortable couch he saw in his whole life, Keith wanted to train since the air was so fresh, Shiro... well, Shiro locked himself in his room for an unknown purpose and Acxa leaned against a wall as she was listening to music. Clearly she was one of those individuals that didn't come here to rest but just to skip some classes. 

"I'm still mad we don't have any golden toilet", Lance sighed when they were going for supper to one of the bigger cabins determining the center of the whole resort. 

"You checked every room's bathroom?" Hunk looked at him with disbelief.

"Mine too?", Pidge wanted to be sure.

"And what if I did? I needed to know if they met my expectations. They didn't and I'm disappointed." Lance put his hand on his forehead with a theatre-like gesture in act of total distress.

They came into the building that looked just like the most common canteen in the world would - few-person tables with plain plastic chairs around, used (and so slippery Lance almost broke his leg) linoleum on the floor; on the one side were two small windows for serving meals and returning dirty dishes and terrace entry on the second. There were probably outdoor tables but it looked like something you'd pay for during booking a place here. But actually beside said vip space and families with kids it wasn't so different from the look they knew from their school. But. The smell. The smell circling in the air was so unlike, so godly and so different from Mr. Coran's culinary inventions they had to think once more if the meal price was really included in the booking price. 

"Pancakes", Pidge breathed sweet scent in. 

"Souffle pancakes", Hunk said with a professional tone. Everyone looked at him like at an alien. "What? They're different from casual ones. They're softer and fluffier, both in consistence and smell."

They saw everyone was heading to take seats so they did the same. They made it in the last minute, the last drowsy entities had to sit with teachers. Hunk kept talking:

"It's a Japanese idea I think, dunno from what year, but it's probably new one." Not caring if anyone listens to him or not, he recited a whole recipe. "And it's real maple syrup, not a cheap replacement", he finished his lecture with satisfaction.

"How much maple syrup did you smell so you can tell if it's real or not?", Keith wouldn't be himself if he didn't raise an eyebrow. 

"More than you for sure", he replied with dignity. 

The line for food finally shortened so they stood at the end. Keith was first from their group so he was first who got this weird feeling of seeing something so delicate, so fragile and so fleeting, that no one should be allowed to even stare at it too long, not even mentioning eating it. He took the plate with trembling cloudlets to their table. He sat down and waited for the rest, not from respect to manners but more from fear that if only his dinner will start screaming, no one believes him. When everyone got back to their seats he noticed their portions were different from each other - he got two pancakes, Shiro and Acxa one, Pidge and Lance three and Hunk five. He got another not describable feeling that advanced scanner was hidden under bright smile of old lady from the window and was sending her detailed information about who wants to eat how much.

"I think I just fell in love", said Hunk between the bites and uncontrolled shivers of delight. Reaction like that in his case meant great praise for the cook as Hunk stated himself he's got incredibly sensitive palate. However they didn't really need his opinion to make sure this masterpiece on their plates must to be worshipped with worship deeper and longer than anything else. Even Acxa gave in to emotions and smiled poorly, but smiled. A memorable moment. 

When both their appetite and souls were satisfied, they took note of free time until inspection at 9pm and lazily dispersed on the whole campus. Lance went to the lake to find an inspiration, Keith from lack of anything better to do went with him. 

"So? Taking off shoes and coming in?", Lance suggested. 

"No swimming", not actually worried, Keith pointed at a rusted sign a few meters away. "No fishing, no littering, no salting fishes", he read another signs.

"No what?" Lance stood next to him with surprise and looked at a graphic which looked more like 'no feeding fishes' than what Keith said. "Yeah, pretty funny. But seriously, what else could lake be for? Looking at it?"

"Maybe it's not a lake but a pond made for influencers."

"Maybe you can take photos but not with flash so it won't fade", Lance snorted and turned his face to warm breeze.

They were standing on a shore for a while looking at a show of appearing stars and singing of cicadas. Or was it stars and moon that were talking in their language, distorted even more due to distance?

"Let's go. It's getting cold." Just now Lance noticed Keith zipped his jacket and put his hands into the pockets. "Also, we have to unpack ourselves before the inspection."

Lance started to walk back to the cabins when suddenly he got revelation. Before Keith even caught up with him, Lance rushed forward.

"What are you doing?!", he heard behind himself.

"I can't talk now!" He stopped for a second to turn back and yell "If I broke something in our room, don't be alarmed!", and galloped to their cottage.

"Fine", Keith murmured and slowly walked in the same direction but not able to stop his face from smiling.

Maybe a trip with psychopaths wouldn't be so bad after all.


	5. Chernobyl's Integration

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was a long break but I think we need even longer. Also since this chapter is the last one translated by one person who left us, damn we're gonna die

“Truth or dare.” said Hunk with a grin.   
  
“I can’t believe I’m doing this.” Shiro sighed. It was almost past eight pm.The outside was dark enough that leaving wasn’t the best idea now. All five of them were sitting in the living space and playing spin-the-bottle. The word “sitting” wasn’t exactly right. Sure, Shiro and Hunk were sitting casually on the couch, but Pidge claimed a pouf, Lance was standing by the easel and Keith, Keith was sitting on the couch's armrest with his shoes on the couch's seat in front of him, “Dare.”   
  
The boy was thinking for a moment.   
  
“Explain the hardest to explain inside joke you know” Hunk said and Shiro leaned his chin on his arm in thought.   
  
“When I was younger I used to go to ju-jitsu” he said eventually.   
  
“Is it more like advanced karate?” Lance dragged in blankly, finishing his sketch with pencils. It was amazing how fast he could move his art equipment in the whole room, especially since he had only an hour to do so.    
  
“In big summary, yeah” he looked at him with a hidden grudge. Looks like it wasn’t the first time he met a comment like this “Just not only that it’s a sport, but also other elements of true fight that can be really useful when someone is trying to attack you. For example how to break out when someone is trying to choke you or how to defend yourself when someone has a gun etc. And once we were learning break falls. I know this name might be odd but remember it” he said seeing other people's faces. “But it can turn out really handy, if someone would throw you at concrete and you don’t really wanna break your head or lose consciousness. There’s a lot of ways but it’s mostly about reflex to move your head up that it won’t hit the ground. So when I was going to ju-jitsu there was a thing that each summer they organized two weeks of sports camps. Pretty big happening, because there were much more shihans.. people with black belts others than just our coach”   
  
“I thought you call people with black belts senpais” Pidge wondered.   
  
“Senpai you can call anyone with upper rank. In your case everyone. Shihan is better appellation, because it expresses more respect. But the coach you call sensei, as other teachers in general” before she tried to ask him other questions and to lose his track he continued the story “so at one of those camps we were watching ‘Anabelle’. Of course illegally because none of us were old enough back then. Anyway, at some point one girl just jumped through the window, no one really knows why and she hits concrete from some floor. Then there was a shot from above on her as she lies on this concrete and we laugh that she’s fine because at least she did the break fall.”   
  
“It was really long to explain inside joke” Hunk replied after a moment of dismay “Alright next”   
  
He spinned bottle and everyone followed the end of it, well everyone except Lance which it pointed at.   
  
“Alright, screw it” he broke away from the canvas with a mountain landscape on it and he wiped invisible paint on his pants “Dare”.   
  
“Broke one of your pens” he said heartlessly.   
  
Before the boy got hysterical he just remembered something. Quickly he ran to another room and brought something that Pidge already called ‘Pencil demo version’ .It was a few centimetre graphite with a bit of wood around it like all those poor pens in pre-school which are sharpened only for fun and for no actual purpose.   
  
“I understand that the rules of the game do not provide for a challenge to change at this point?” before anyone said anything he started the long and tiring process of grinding wood on his hands. “How smart I am, I bought it right before the trip. Oh god. If it was Koh-I-Noor I would already collapse” he mumbled to himself trying to find the weak spot of the pencil. “But if it was Caran d’ache, god forbid Luminance! Jesus it would be a grief at breaking this scrub. Do you know how much Caran d’ache cost!?” he bursted out “One pen costs….” he thought for a moment “Pidge divide 120 and 907 by 40. One pen is like 5 dollars!” he yelled before the girl could even opened the calculator “It’s only Prismacolor, but right Premier, but for one piece you pay half way less. Do you know that prisms glow under the UV light? YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!” he lost it and threw the pen at the wall and it finally cracked in half. “Yeah” he flicked his hands and took one of his pens from under the carpet and went back to drawing the sheet of lake.    
  
There’s a long moment of silence, concern and costernation, if there’s surely everything okay with him. Pidge, noticing that he lost himself in drawing, spinned the bottle for him. It stopped pointing at Keith.   
  
“Dare”   
  
“Steal something from the teachers house” he said, not looking away from the pen's lead like it supposed to make his moves precise.    
  
Keith surprisingly hasn't said anything and not even seemed to be afraid of his coming quest. He just jumped off the couch, looked where his target was as he left the house and vanished in the darkness.   
  
“Pidge go after him” Hunk sat up first.   
  
“Why me?” she whined reluctantly.   
  
“Because you’re the smallest and will be the easiest for you to hide and record video” he said and she ran after the thief without whining anymore. After a few minutes she came back excited and sat on her seat. After a moment Keith came back with bags of snacks “Okay they will be.. really mad when they’ll find out”   
  
“They are fat enough, we’re not so we can have some fun” Keith ignored all the possible consequences and laid the snacks on the table. Everyone, even Lance, took a look at what he brought. Only Shiro said that he didn't want to do anything with that “So how does it look from the side?” He looked at Pidge who just choked with coke.   
  
“How do you know I was there?” she said scared if her friend was not an alien.   
  
He spread his hands helplessly with a gleam of happiness in his eye.

  
“I read all the toms of ‘Ranger's Apprentice’ when I was younger” he confessed.   
  
“Halt is kind of sugar daddy” said Lance between eating snacks, but no one payed attention to him.   
  
“Okay show that video” Keith and others sat next to Pidge looking at her phone screen.   
  
Video at first was blurry but after a second it took focus, just to capture the moment when Keith started to climb on the wall. Houses were made of raw brick, but decorated with wooden planks with tiny gaps between them making it possible to climb on. It looked like just a shadow moving on this wall until he sat on the windowsill and got inside through the opened window. For a moment nothing happened then shadow appeared again with a handful of loot, without any noise slided down on the wall and disappeared in darkness.   
  
“Okay you’re the X-man” said Hunk.   
  
“X-man that has commited theft“ said Shiro. Everyone looked at him like at someone crazy. Stealing snacks from teachers is nothing bad, right? “What? Just saying,”   
  
Not long after they continued the game. In just half an hour they make Hunk to make a taco blindfolded (he did it), Lance to make the splits (he didn’t), Pidge to make herself a makeup (no comment) and Shiro to admit that he uses eyeliner. Also Pidge, with still red face after scrubbing her face with a cotton pad, had to explain why she and Shiro bear a grudge.    
  
“When we first met I asked if he plays basketball because of his height, and he asked me if I play minigolf” Pidge said and Lance almost pushed his easel over when he burst into laughter. She ignored it and in the next round she made Keith dance to one of the choreography. Everyone was impressed, everyone except Shiro.   
  
“You shake like an aspen leaf” he said.   
  
“Never that many people looked at me at the same time” he covered his red ears with hair and sat in his place again.   
  
“How about classmates?” asked Pidge.   
  
“I always dance in the back” he shrugged and spinned the bottle “Alright Hunk, truth or dare?”    
  
“Truth” said Hunk, still wiping his fingers in tissue. Using a knife blindfolded wasn’t that easy after all.   
  
“Why didn’t you go for some gastronomy?”   
  
“I failed the entrance exam” he explained “I only had to pour sauce over the meat. I was so relieved it almost ended that my hand wobbled at the last second. Examiner took it as an insult for aesthetics and told me to get out of there.” Apparently he didn't resent anyone for it, because he was in the same good mood as before and continued the game.

  
After a few rounds Lance with a portentous voice pointed with the end of his pen at his victim “Alright Mr Keith, truth or dare?”    
  
“Dare” he didn’t know what to expect but he wasn't going back. Even from a psychopath like Lance.   
  
He smiled wickedly as he covered the golden print on the pen and shoved it to everyone “What color is this?”   
  
“..Blue”   
  
“Ah-ah-ah, blue doesn’t exist. I mean it does but it’s not blue. What is it?”   
  
“Ultramarine?” he said and the other boy grabbed his head.   
  
“Ultramarine is a paint idiot!”   
  
“Color is a color!”   
  
“But it’s not ultramarine, it’s PC901, more common as Indigo Bl-.. oh you asshole”   
  
Keith only laughed and spinned bottle. Pointing at Lance.   
  
“Oh look, what a instant karma” he only smiled wider.

“Dare. End me.”   
  
“Send a nude to Allura” it was obvious that he had been waiting for this for a long time. Hunk and Pidge smiled along with Keith. Since they received the information that lover boy, somehow won number of his object of interest (from two minutes when asked about it), they were also looking forward to this moment.

  
Lance with dignity took his phone and walked to the bathroom. After a while he came back and belted up. This time no one wanted to check if he actually did his dare and they just continued the game. After five minutes Pidge smashed her fingers trying to pick up Hunk and Shiro scared everyone to death showing what he remembered from his jiu-jitsu classes.   
  
“What? It’s just kata and the easiest one” he confused seeing how Hunk who was sitting the nearest him almost fell.   
  
“You could just do it and not scream your head off” noticed Keith, Shiro maybe was calm by nature but when he screamed it sounded like an earthquake.    
  
“It’s a normal part of every kata” he huffed and wanted to say something more but at this moment Lance’s phone got notification and everyone moved to see Allura’s response.   
  
And the message on the phone’s screen was “You’re not my type, but nice cock bro”   
  
“Not that she only praised me, she also called me bro” Lance got emotional.   
  
“She literally friendzoned you and you’re happy about it?” Pidge snorted.    
  
He was just about to scream that she didn't know anything about feeling when suddenly one of the teachers came into the house and scanned the room with a narrow look stopping for a longer while on the table with empty bags and looked again at the horror-struck group.    
  
“What are you doing here? To the beds, now! It’s five past nine!” She yelled “At ten they turn of the power, so hurry up.”   
  
“What!?” devastated Pidge blurted out. No internet at night? Her telephone in the morning will explode from notifications, and her brain will explode in the evening if she won’t review the latest memes.

  
“Yes Ms Holt, they turn off the Internet” the woman clapped her hands with clear satisfaction “Okay go, otherwise you won’t make it”   
  
Embittered, they headed upstairs to their rooms. Their sense of freedom has declined

even more when they heard a key scratch in the lock. Nobody really foresaw that if a fire broke out or something, they wouldn't be able to escape? Indeed, being a teacher without snacks is a state of mind.   
  
Lance had to clean up his pens so when he got to the room Keith was in the bathroom. He didn’t have anything else to do so he set up his easel and continued his work. The hingers creaked (so not everything on the inside was as good as it seemed to) after a few minutes and Keith got in the bed right after and mumbled to turn the lights off. Lance sighed and made the friend’s request. He didn't like to stop his work but to finish it he needed at least a few more hours. Anyways the base looked pretty nice.   
  
He took his pyjamas with a makeup bag which took most of the space in his backpack and locked himself in the bathroom. He was just about to take his shirt off when he noticed something. Something on the floor. He didn't know why he decided to look closely at wet marks instead of just wiping them off. What was so interesting in them that his subconsciousness screamed for attention.   
  
Suddenly he felt like the last latch in his mind snapped into place and all his hair stood on end. His heart beat two times faster as it should. Shiveringly he came back to the room and took his phone checking if his roommate was sleeping and he was. He returned to the bathroom and took a few pictures from different angles. Just in case if someone wouldn't believe in one. He quickly took a shower, did his beauty routine and not really thinking about it, lay down on bed, biting nervously his lips.   
  
So his friend was a Garla.


End file.
